BY ANUSHA FATIMA
It's no shock to
us by now that, Ravens have proven to be one of the most riveting and
unpredictable species of birds, demonstrating their abilities. Not only have
there been studies done by researchers observing and learning the capabilities
of the Ravens, but in actuality Raven's have been observed by many religions.
Stories, myths, traditions and beliefs have been made about Ravens and followed
by many different kinds of religions. In my creative piece, I have focused on
drawing one of the Native American's story and I have also searched the roles
of Raven's in other religions and folklore. There are three major regions that
have made the most influences of Ravens in their religions, and those nations
are North America, Europe, and Native Americans.
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| Bill Reid illustration (image source: http://theravenscall.ca/en/who) |
Ravens are
conceivably, the most common bird symbol used in the mythologies and religions
of ancient cultures. As most of us know and have heard of, Ravens are symbolized
as death and misfortune. However, in North European culture and religions,
Ravens are also believed to appear in the form of goddesses, gathering over the
battlefields, feeding on the flesh of the fallen warriors. Whereas in Great
Britain, spotting a Raven before proceeding into a battle gave a sign of
suspicion, and meant that the army would be defeated. (Sax 2009). In
North America I have learned that the Ravens are actually the creators of the
world. I also learned that Raven was given the role of Noah from the biblical
story of Great Flood, and how the Raven took animals on to the big raft in
order to save all the animals. Following that story I also learned that because
the Raven did so much for the humans, and in return the Raven was refused by humans to marry a woman he loved, so as a
revenge the myth states that the Raven created mosquitos to torment humans
forever (Tucker 2014). I also found a very engaging story called “Raven
steals the light”. Although I thought the story was only based on the
Athabascan Tribe, however, as I researched more about the story I found out
that many of the Native tribes, portrayed the Raven as a trickster, and so the
idea of the story is the same, but there are certain variations with different
tribes. The moral of the story was that there was no light, because the Chief
of the tribe kept it in a box, and the people lived in total darkness, and the
Raven did not like that. So the raven tricks Chief’s daughter, enters her body,
and she gives birth to the Raven as an infant. The Raven then grew in the house
as an infant and asked the Chief for the box with the light, and as soon as he
got the box, the Raven changed into his bird shape, and carried the box to the
sky, and that's how the Raven stole the light. (Reid 1996).
After conveying the Raven's role in
religion in North America, the European religious traditions and beliefs, and
with the native tribal myths, the themes of the Raven reoccurs
of death, wisdom, and trickery. Which is why I believe that the Raven has an
important role in many religions. My focus on the creative piece, is drawing
the story of “The Raven steals the light”, while explaining it in the
paper how Raven played an important role in traditional stories and in religions. For my creative piece I have been inspired by the image produced and drawn by Bill Reid from the
book “The Raven Steals the Light”
which is shown above.
Reid, Bill, and
Robert Bringhurst 1996. The Raven Steals
the Light: Native American Tales. Boston: Shambhala.
Sax, Boria. 2009. "The Tower Ravens as Mascots of Britain in World War II."Tiere Im Krieg. By Ferdinand Scöningh.
Zurich: n.p., 2009. 199-213.
Tucker, Suzetta. 2014.
"ChristStory Raven, Crow, Blackbird Page."ChristStory Christian Bestiary. 1998. Web source.
